


her hands shake.

by valkyrie



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F, Gen, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-13 01:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2132670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrie/pseuds/valkyrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sickfic; noire dealing with her anemia, and trying to get better. (slight severa/noire.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	her hands shake.

noire can't hold her bow. the anemia makes her hands shake.   
   
laurent tells her she needs to eat more meat, absorb more iron. that its absorption is low but reliable. if she eats it, absorbs it, she will feel iron seep through her blood stream, carrying warmth and feeling to her fingers. it will wake her, stop her hands from shaking, cloud her cheeks with healthy color. his advice is unsolicited but right: well-intentioned but ill-received. despite that, she listens.  
   
she stumbles light-headed from the medical tent, insisting she's fine. that she will be fine. brady's voice barks otherwise as she leaves and it draws attention. gerome watches for weakness from a distance, slowly drawing closer when he sees her unsteadiness; a silent protector. everyone knows about her illness, her "delicate constitution", but he knows exactly how hard she tries to push past it. she doesn't want her body to win.  
   
it's severa's turn to cook in the kitchen and noire is grateful to see her. the edges of her lips tug feebly into a nervous smile, even when severa starts lashing her with reminders not to leave the medical tent, that she can see exactly how pale she is and should've asked someone to get things for her. but noire shakes her head, tells her that she has to do some things herself. she's tired of laying in bed all day.  
   
severa groans and asks her what she came for, and noire tells her she's supposed to try and eat meat. that laurent says it's good for her right now. comments tumble from severa's lips as she complies and fetches noire some of the stew she was preparing, pushing it into her shaking hands and feeling how they tremble against the bowl. they're cold.  
   
"if you spill that bowl on your way back to the medical tent, don't think i'll forgive you and give you a second one!" but noire knows she would. she thanks her and promises not to drop it, not when severa made it. gerome is waiting outside the tent, an idle guardian, and he quietly escorts her back and watches each wobble and misstep. he will not let her fall. she knows that.  
   
she settles safely back into the cot across from brady, and gerome gently hands her back the stew from severa.  
   
her fingers frame the edges of the bowl, clinging for warmth. "th-thank you... for looking out for me."  
   
"it's fine." he is always so stiff when he talks. "i will leave you now." he dismisses himself, and brady scoffs as he leaves the tent.  
   
"so," he starts, nose raised and sniffing the air. "whadd'ya have there?"  
   
"um," she raises the stew close to her face, the tip of her nose almost pressed against its contents. "i-i think it's... bear meat, again. and potatoes, some carrots, celery..." she inhales deeply, searching for spices. "oh! and onion, and i think... i think that's a little nutmeg."  
   
"sounds like yer having a real fine feast over there, then." he nods appreciatively, and noire imagines how maribelle must have trained him to be a gourmet, too. how she spent so much time on him, doted on him, raised him so lovingly...  
   
she spoons her first bite of stew into her mouth, swallowing her jealousy with it.   
   
she can't think that way. mother would curse her.

 

* * *

 

her stomach can't handle the meat. nutrients pour from her body and she's so upset. she needed those. she needed those to get better and now they're gone. she shuffles back to the medical tent sniffling and empty. hunger claws at her stomach and she holds an arm against it protectively, hunched and weak.

   
brady sees how her lips have blued when she re-enters, asks her what's wrong. her whole body shakes as she drops her body back onto her cot, fingers wringing the thin, well-worn sheets.  
   
she wails loudly for severa.   
   
brady bolts up from his cot, injuries be damned, and throws open the tent flaps bellowing for severa to get her rump over here.

 

* * *

  
   
noire is a mess of apologies when she arrives, but severa rejects that, too. she sighs and sits next to noire, hands resting pedantically against her thighs.  
   
"gods, just what am i supposed to do with you?" noire sniffles another apology, shoulders hunched and hands folded in her lap. she tries to make herself smaller.  
   
"i... i didn't know what to do..."  
   
"come on, we've been over this before. imposing on me is what you do."  
   
"s-sorry... um... i was thinking back... do you remember when i tried to mix some herbs for myself?"  
   
severa throws her head back, rolling her eyes. "how can i  _forget_ ?! gods, noire, i thought you'd gone and poisoned yourself!"  
   
"it felt like i did! my stomach was hurting me so much... i could barely move."  
   
"and then i had to run off and make you some proper medicine instead."  
   
noire's gaze falls into her lap, timid. "could you... do that again? i'm not... having a good day today, and your medicine really helped last time. i think i might be able to eat if i had some."  
   
severa looks over at her, assesses her. pigment has drained from her skin, pulling away from her cheeks and her lips. she's always been skinny, but she's gotten even worse lately -- severa sees the way her clothing puckers, folds searching for receding skin and muscle.   
   
and then there's her hands. her hands won't stop shaking. noire buckles her hands into fists over and over again, trying to coax feeling back into them.  
   
severa looks at her with a self-assured smile, a cocky confidence. "of course! you lay down and try not to faint before i get back." she launches herself up onto her legs again with a wink, and whips around to address brady. her hair mimics the motion like a flourish. "make sure she doesn't try anything stupid!" she huffs, and leaves.

 

* * *

  
   
"now  _this_  is how you mix herbs." severa sets down a tray with a pungent-smelling teapot and some cups, and they clatter as she places them on a nearby table. noire opens her eyes at the sound, already almost half-asleep from her anemia. she weakly pushes herself to a sitting position and watches severa pour the tea with technique maribelle would approve of. brady nods as he watches her.  
   
severa pours three cups for good measure, one for each of them. she hands one to brady first. "here, you can have one, too. then maybe you can get out of here sooner and join the rest of us." he grunts a thank you, and then picks up a teacup with his pinky daintily poised.  
   
noire watches as severa turns back to her, holding another teacup tenderly. "you have to promise me  _not_  to spill this and burn yourself."  
   
"i-- i promise."  
   
severa sits beside her and pushes it into noire's cold hands, using her own fingers to press noire's against the thin china. they move stiffly even with the added pressure, but she slowly feels them feed off of her own warmth.  
   
noire is staring at her and she remembers to remove her fingers. "th-there, now drink it."  
   
she does. the tea instantly warms her -- she's overwhelmed with the scent and taste of ginger, but its aggressive notes are lightened with sweet, floral honey. she drinks it easily, the first thing in a few days she's had without difficulty. when she finishes the cup she closes her eyes, feeling it soothe the inflammation inside her. untying the knots in her stomach.  
   
severa pours her cup after cup until the teapot is empty, and when noire smiles to thank her there's color in her cheeks again, strength in her body.  
   
she takes noire's teacup back, places it on its tray to idle with the teapot. noire timidly reaches for severa's hand and severa lets her take it, hold it. she knows it makes noire feel safe.  
   
"thank you, severa. you're always so nice to me."  
   
she squeezes noire's hand. she can feel her fingers and they're finally warm.  
   
"yeah, yeah. someone's gotta make sure you take care of yourself."

her tone is dismissive but severa smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> this is... my first fire emblem: awakening fic, finally! i don't mention it explicitly here, especially since i'm unsure of how far any health research is in fe-verse, but, i headcanon noire as having a kind of autoimmune disorder: some kind of IBD, specifically. it makes sense to me because of how she seems to deal with chronic anemia, stomach problems, low weight, paleness, etc. i... personally have it, so it was something i saw in her instantly as i went through her supports.
> 
> i'd imagine she's fortunate enough to have a milder type and that magic can help keep the inflammation at bay, though. or some of severa's magical tea to at least keep the symptoms away.
> 
> thank you for reading!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [the world goes black](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3748303) by [thespis_hauntings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespis_hauntings/pseuds/thespis_hauntings)




End file.
